


Happiness in Other People's Hands

by wildforce71



Category: Power Rangers Jungle Fury
Genre: Gen, Introspection, Short Version
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-24
Updated: 2013-10-24
Packaged: 2017-12-30 08:35:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1016441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wildforce71/pseuds/wildforce71
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>I believe we place our happiness in other people's hands. I believe that junk food tastes so good because it's bad for you. I believe I'm loved when I'm completely by myself alone. I believe forgivness is the key to your own happiness. I believe in love surviving death into eternity.<i></i></i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <i>Camille's not sure what she believes yet. But she's working it out.</i>
  </i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Happiness in Other People's Hands

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Revieloutionne](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Revieloutionne/gifts).



> So, my dear recipient, I made a mistake when writing this; I wrote it far too long. What you have here is the drastically shortened version. I'll post the full one on release day, and I'll try and get back here to add a link, but depending on timezones you might get here first. I hope this one whets your appetite. <3

***

"Ice cream's a dessert," Jarrod tells her when she asks him, after overhearing two of the youngest students discuss it excitedly. "Sweet, cold. You eat it after your meal."

Ice cream, she discovers in the loft at JKP, is soft and creamy, sweet and cool. Lily and Casey talk over each other as they discuss the different ways to eat it, different flavours and toppings until Camille's head is spinning. She slides one hand into Jarrod's and keeps eating.

***

She's watching three students spar when Jarrod joins her. "They're trying to hurt him."

"What?" He looks back at the spar, eyes narrowed as he watches the flow and ebb of movement. He watches for a moment before standing and calling out. "Break it up!"

The three spring apart; Camille edges the victim away while Jarrod reminds the other two that threeway sparring is supposed to be supervised, and that they need to practise pulling their punches. He lets them hurry away, turning back to Camille and the boy with a frown. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, sir," he says, meeting Jarrod's eyes easily. Camille's still learning how to read humans, but she thinks that usually suggests honesty.

"If you're having trouble..."

"No, sir, I'm fine. Thank you." He bows in Jarrod's general direction, turning and hurrying away.

Jarrod watches him go; Camille waits until he's out of hearing range to ask "What was that about?"

"He's gay," Jarrod says as though that means anything. "I need to find Casey. I'll see you in class."

Camille sighs and goes to find someone who’ll explain.

"It means he's attracted to boys," Theo explains a little later. She likes Theo; he's wary of her, which only makes sense, but always polite and careful, and he doesn't treat her questions as stupid.

"So?" Camille says.

"Generally, girls are attracted to boys and vice versa," he says. He's moving through a kata, matching the rhythm of his words to his movements. "But sometimes boys are attracted to boys and girls to girls. There's nothing wrong with it, but some people use it as an excuse to pick on them."

"Why?"

"They need an excuse, so they can pretend they aren't just lashing out for the sake of it."

"I see. Thank you."

***

"Pay?" Jarrod says, rubbing at his forehead. "That's...complicated. Why?"

"Curious."

He gives her a somewhat jumbled explanation. By the end of it, she's grasped the idea of money, and work, and pay.

RJ listens carefully to her question and considers it for a long time - long enough that she half-wonders if he's drifted off. Eventually, though, he stirs. "It's a bummer system, but it's the system we have."

"It's stupid," she says flatly. "Little pieces of paper? What good is that? Your team fought and bled and nearly died for this city, and they can't get the things they need?"

"They _can_ get them," he corrects her. "If they have enough money."

"I'm not paying anything to the Academy."

"You and Jarrod are special cases."

She crosses to the window, staring blindly out of it. "It's not fair."

"No," RJ agrees. "It's not fair. But it's what we have. Work, earn money, buy what you need."

"You pay your workers."

"Yes. More than I should, but Casey increased Fran's wages and then I had to - no, that's not relevant. My workers do a job and they deserve to be compensated. What did Dai Shi do when you performed well?"

"Didn't kill me."

"Bad example," he said, mostly to himself.

"No. It's a good example. Thank you, RJ."

***

"What's the point of novels?" 

"I don't understand."

"I understand writing histories, or to tell someone about something. What's the point of writing about something that never happened?"

Jarrod laughs softly. "I don't think I'm qualified to answer this one. I never did like reading much."

"There must be a reason," she insists.

"You can learn a lesson from something that didn't happen. Little kids learn all kinds of things by hearing stories."

"Like what?"

He shrugs. "Be nice to dwarves, stepparents are evil - no, not really," he adds at her look. Camille sighs, and he smiles, touching her chin to tip it up. "I can't answer this one, but I know who can."

Fran frowns. "The point of novels?"

"As opposed to factual," Jarrod offers, and she nods understanding.

"Fiction can teach you things," she tells Camille.

"Don't trust dwarves?"

Jarrod is laughing beside her, but Fran smiles. "That, yes, but also - things about life, about living. About people. There are answers in novels, things you didn't even know were questions."

Camille comes away from that discussion with a reading list. _To Kill a Mockingbird_ leads into a lesson on the history of racism in general and in the South in particular. _The Chronicles of Narnia_ leads her to Christianity and then to religion. _Nation_ leads her to a study of belief, and science versus faith, and a long discussion on alternate worlds versus fictional worlds. _Harry Potter_ shows her the hero's journey, and morals. She works through others, each one leading her to a new lesson, things she hasn't even considered, each one a torch showing her more of the world the humans inhabit.

***

The next team night happens to be a movie night; Camille spends a lot of it discussing _Watership Down_ with Fran, until Lily shushes her for 'the best scene'. Camille quiets, watching. The dialogue doesn't mean much to her, but she watches Baby and Johnny dancing and frowns.

Afterwards, Lily nudges her lightly. "Didn't enjoy it?"

"Didn't understand it. Why was it so important to dance like that?"

She looks at Jarrod, but he shakes his head. "I can waltz. Badly. Lily's the person you want for this."

"Most of the time, it doesn't matter what kind of dancing you do," Lily tells her. "Dancing's about expressing yourself, it's about showing what you're feeling."

"Sometimes it matters," Theo tells her.

"Sometimes it matters," Lily agrees. "Some dances are more formal than others. You usually get waltzing at weddings..." She trails off at Camille's look. "Never mind. Dom, put some music on. Something with a beat."

Music fills the loft and Lily starts dancing. "Just move with the beat," she advises Camille. "Let yourself go."

Camille doesn't dance, exactly, but she moves with the beat, feeling it fill her, feeling everything else drop away briefly. The sense of peace surprises her; she's never been able to mediate, but she imagines it feels like this.

***

"Home."

"What about it?"

"I thought home was where you lived. But the cubs, today, they're looking forward to going home. So it isn't here."

"Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in."

"That doesn't help."

"It's different to everyone, Camille. Usually it's where you grew up. Sometimes it's somewhere else. You don't think of the temple as home."

"No," she agrees. It was never home, even when she lived there.

"Some people never find home," Jarrod says; he looks so tired that she drops the question.

She finds Dom in the courtyard."What's home?" she asks before he can speak.

He laughs softly. "What did Jarrod tell you?"

She repeats Jarrod's explanation. Dom nods. "I don't think his home was really home. Out of curiosity, why are you asking me this?"

"Because you travel so much. But you keep coming back here. There must be something."

Dom considers for a moment. "The first thing you have to understand is that home doesn't always have to be a place. Sometimes it's a person, or people." Camille nods, and he continues, "Home is where you can go and be yourself, without any masks, without pretending to be anything you aren't, and know that you'll be accepted."

"And that's Jungle Karma Pizza for you?"

He smiles faintly. "Isn't it for you?"

That startles her enough that she she doesn't really notice him leave. It's some time later when Jarrod sits next to her, staring out across the courtyard. "Penny for them."

That's one she knows. "I was just thinking."

"Thinking about what?"

"I was thinking it's nice to be home."

Jarrod smiles, and she knows he understands. "There's no place like home."

**Author's Note:**

> It's not that Camille doesn't know anything about what normal people's lives are like these days, it's just that she didn't have much reason to think about it while fighting the rangers. Of course she goes to Jarrod for answers, but she's starting to think he doesn't actually know much more than she does.


End file.
